Friday, December 30, 2016

When you are in Vermont, don't forget to visit the Ben and Jerry's Factory for a tour! Oddly a fun and must see attraction for me based on my experience there. The cost is low (just a few dollars), lasts roughly 30 minutes and it is run pretty much every day of the year.

The tour goes through the process of how ice cream is made and at the end of the tour you get a sample and there is also a nice gift shop at the end as well (which is also at the beginning). Make sure to visit the Flavour Graveyard which is where unpopular flavours have been moved to.

Friday, December 16, 2016

During our stay in Cusco, we read up on things to do there and Cusco Planetarium was recommended by the friends that we met during our Amazon trip. It is a bit weird, however, it was actually in the travel guide that we had as well, so I guess it can't be bad, right?

Well, let's start with the weird part, in order to visit, you need to email them to schedule a time and then you are supposed to meet someone in a local square there and they pick you up and drive you away to the planetarium. Sounds sketchy right? Well, we thought the same, luckily, we weren't the only ones going and there were a few other people joining us which made me feel a little bit less worried.

The cost in 2014 was 50 soles and it last for roughly 2 hours long. During the 2 hours, we learned about how the Incans built things based on the sky and the different constellations and I learned that there are actually a different set of constellations if you are in the northern hemisphere vs the southern hemisphere. You also get to have a look through their telescope which was strong enough to show us Saturn!

Worth a visit if you have the time and odds are, you probably will since it is only open during the evenings.

Friday, December 9, 2016

When in Quebec City, odds are you will walk along this section called the Terrasse Dufferin which is like a boardwalk. We went during the winter time and if you go then, I have no doubt that you should visit this area for the slide that they have. I'm not sure if it exists during other months, but in the winter, you pay a few dollars for a sled that you take up a really big slide and you sled down at really fast speeds.

Even if you don't come during winter, I imagine that the views and the atmosphere of the area is worth paying this area a visit. And you can't really go wrong since it is free!

Friday, December 2, 2016

During our recent visit to Michigan for Black Friday, we stopped at a local attraction, Crossroads Village and it was a neat attraction but small.

Located in Flint Michigan, Crossroads Village is a historical replica of a village of the 1800's and they have historical buildings that were either there or relocated from the surrounding area and potentially repurposed for this village. Some of the buildings include a print press, a barber shop, and an opera house.

The village itself is not very large, when we talked to the ticket office staff, he said that it would take about 20 minutes to walk the grounds. Ask for a map so that you can find out what all the buildings are and just ask about what is going on that day so you know when/where to go to things.

When we went on the day after Thanksgiving, it was also the Christmas Day celebration which has the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony, accompanied by fireworks afterwards. Unfortunately due to the weather (it was raining and getting cold), we did not wait for these, but it sounded like it would be a neat experience. We were told that the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony would take place at 7:15pm, so if you are interested, you may want to come for the buffet as well (which we didn't take part in).

What we did end up doing was seeing a show, which was holiday themed, it happened at 5:30pm but I know that there was another at 6:30pm as well. It lasted about 15 minutes and it was a live production in an old theater building which was a neat experience.

We also went to the print house which had a staff there talking about how the print press worked in the past and he spoke about the buildings that we could see and where they came from.

Went to line up for a photo with Santa. Wandered the grounds after and saw the carousel (which was built in 1912 and relocated to Crossroads in 1991), although we did not go on the ride.

Everything that I mentioned that we did was included with the price of admission (show, Santa). The train was extra. The place reminds me of similar villages that I have visited in the past such as Black Creek Pioneer Village in Toronto, Canada and Bunratty Castle and Folk Park in Bunratty, Ireland. However, Crossroads Village was very small by comparison, but I think the price reflects this (it was $10 USD in 2016, $15 USD for admission + train). I can't say for sure I would recommend it when the grounds do not have a theme to them since it is a bit small and you would probably run out of things to do pretty quick, but with the theme, it did mean that there was more to see and do while we were here.